JULY 31, 2012 — Surfersvillage Launch ALL NEW website platform

Surfersvillage now under a new management team at Projeckts Ltd has launched the new version of its world-renowned website. Incorporating an entirely new website platform and design with new elements, it offers improved viewer experience, and a more efficient service to it’s corporate clients.

A vast array of content is presented and easily accessed. Early reaction and comments have been 100% positive from surfers, editors, media, and technical users and audiences. The newly introduced elements have been welcomed and endorsed, and the design has been categorized ‘super-user-orientated’.

Some of the new features include;

Large Player: Live Streaming, Videos, Slideshows

Small Player: Top news, Editorial Slideshows, Videos

Featured Video

Featured Portrait gallery

New Regional News sections

New Contest reports Sections

Multimedia: New Slideshow section

Surforecasts: New partnership with Windguru.com

Learn To Surf: All you need to learn from A to Z

Surf Directories: Surf Camps, Schools, Shapers, & Photographers

Video: Featured news, and Videos

SV TV: Presenting the latest videos in surfing

NGOs: ASP, ISA, BWWT, SUP, (+ more) news sections

Surfersvillage Awards 2012: – The Search for Talent

Newswire: Improved aggregation

Community: Social Media tools Share & Comments

Check it out at www.surfersvillage.com or www.surfersvillagenews.com

Surfersvillage has been bringing the latest surfing news and information to surfers worldwide since the 1990′s. Wherever waves break, surfing news is breaking too. If it happens anywhere in the world in surfing, Surfersvillage has it covered. The ‘Reuters of Surfing’, Surfersvillage publishes and distributes the latest surfing news, surf-industry news, and related information, for the entire world daily.

If you seek content for your website, Surfersvillage is the perfectly positioned agency to fill your needs. With thousands of contributors in the mediums of print, video, audio, and photo, Surfersvillage has an ever-increasing and unrivaled pool of content.

If it happened in surfing, somewhere, you’ll read about it on Surfersvillage within hours.

Surfersvillage is ‘First in Surfing News’.

Surfersvillage.com and SurfersvillageNews.com are owned and operated by Projeckts Ltd having offices in the 2012 Olympics City of London, England. Surfersvillage also publishes ‘The Surfing Yearbook’ a sports annual for surfing, in print, as well as ‘It’ Thirty Days in Surfing, an e-multimedia publication. Other platforms include the ‘Surfersvillage Awards’ search for media talent, and Surfersvillage TV an extensive surfing focused Youtube channel also providing LIVE Streaming services.

The new Surfersvillage platform was developed by Polestar-Publications www.polestar-publishing.co.uk

For more information please contact

Surfersvillage / Projeckts Ltd

www.Surfersvillage.com

www.SurfersvillageNews.com

director@projeckts.com

director@surfersvillage.com

July 15, 2012 Down The Line Surf Talk Radio with Bassy n Baldy on XTRA SPORTS 1360AM in San Diego; on iTunes podcast (Google it).

Tom Morey was once asked if he would give up surfing for a million dollars. He responded by asking something to the effect of “does that include hanging your hand out the car window at a freeway underpass?”.

Segment Sponsor Quiksilver Waterman Collection is presenting next years’ Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction presented by Quiksilver Waterman Collection which takes place May 11, 2013 in the brand new state-of-the-art building at the OC Fairgrounds called The HANGAR. Quiksilver Waterman Collection and their brand ambassadors on twitter Mark Healey @healeysurf , Shayne McIntyre @ShayneMcIntyre, Jamie Mitchell, Peter Mel @peter_mel, Mel Pu’u: Robby Naish;

LIBERIA Surfing with Sean Brody -

What is the latest with surfing in and around Liberia?
ISA?
You are on your way to do some scholarship over there, correct?

SEGMENT 2: Segment Sponsor Quiksilver Waterman Collection is presenting next years’ Surfing Heritage Vintage Surf Auction presented by Quiksilver Waterman Collection which takes place May 11, 2013 in the brand new state-of-the-art building at the OC Fairgrounds called The HANGAR. Quiksilver Waterman Collection and their brand ambassadors on twitter Mark Healey @healeysurf , Shayne McIntyre @ShayneMcIntyre, Jamie Mitchell, Peter Mel @peter_mel, Mel Pu’u: Robby Naish;

BOYS TO MEN Mentoring Program w/ Joe Sigurdson

Good morning Joe, tell us about Boys to Men,
Who What When Where Why How
100 Wave Challenge
Are these kids that are already in gangs?
Is there anything more important to a society than Father/Mother family home life?

EMAIL – TWEETS – SHOUTS OUTS:

SEGMENT 3 SPONSORS THE BOARDROOM INTERNATIONAL SURFBOARD SHOW HONORING 4X ASP WORLD CHAMP MARK RICHARDS OCTOBER 6 & 7 DEL MAR FAIRGROUNDS LIVE SHAPING, LIVE LAMINATING, BOARD GIVEAWAYS, SURFBOARD DEMO, AUTOGRAPHS SIGNINGS, TOP SURFBOARD MANUFACTURERS, WETSUITS, LEASHES, BOARDBOAGS GREAT DEALS
Big Wave Roundtable

TOP 5 Storeis:
# 1) Jeffreys Bay — Brazilian surfer Adriano De Souza has won the ASP 6-Star Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay defeating French surfer Joan Duru in small and difficult conditions in the Final with polished and dynamic surfing.

It was an icy winter day that dawned for the remaining competitors in the Billabong Pro J-Bay today, but with contestable waves running down the point, contest director Luke Egan showed no hesitation in sending the remaining competitors straight out into the water. “We’re going to crown a winner today, weather permitting,” said Egan.

Sunday, July 10, 2011, California– History was made at the ASP PRIME Mr Price Pro Ballito, the ocean producing flawless four meter (8-10ft) barrels that had surfer’s calling it some of the best waves they’d ever surfed in or out, of competition…

We also talk about the upcoming J Bay Billabong Pro surfing competition which starts July 14; favorites, goofyfoots, underdogs.
Plus, Surf Stronger! Stay fit with surf stronger DVD series, we talk with Coach about crunches, not crunch berries; and the top ten most UNDERRATED Rolling Stones songs. Plus tons more; Search for us on iTunes keyword: DOWN THE LINE :

Side 1

1) Prodigal Son from Beggars Banquet
2) You Got The Silver from Let It Bleed
3) If You Can’t Rock Me from It’s only Rock n Roll
4) All About You from Emotional Rescue
5) Sweet Virginia from Exile On Main Street

Side 2
1) Monkey Man from Sticky Fingers
2) When The Whip Comes Down from Some Girls
3) Lovin’ Cup from Exile on Main Street
4) Dancin’ with Mr. D from Goats Head Soup
5) Moonlight Mile from Sticky Fingers

Somebody call Pat Gudauskas and tell him we found his missing FROTH, it’s on his upperlip. Hideous mustache.

http://www.mrpricepro.com/VideoHighlight.aspx

This piece was originally published in The Australian on November 29, 2010. You can reach the author of the article here: pawlef@theaustralian.com.au ; Our take on Melekian’s OUTSIDE mag article

When Californian surf journalist Brad Melekian was commissioned to write an obituary of three-time world champion Andy Irons, who died this month, he was surprised by the number of people who were keen to discuss the previously unreported troubled side of Irons’ short but brilliant life.

“Every single person I talked to, even those who were unwilling to talk on the record, said there was more to it (than a mere obituary),” Melekian said. “I couldn’t ignore that.”

The eventual 4400-word story detailed two alarming drug and alcohol-related incidents: one when Irons almost died during a bender in Indonesia in 1999, and another when he became almost uncontrollably violent towards a friend in Fiji this year.

Irons’s volatility and self-destructiveness were not news to the “insular” world of pro surfing, Melekian wrote. “But they were kept under wraps by an unspoken but understood code of public silence.”

That code is a consequence of the surf-publishing business model. Surf journalists do not feel inclined to ask difficult questions because the sponsors of the stars they write about also provide most of the advertising revenue for their publications.

Melekian formerly edited Surfer magazine in California, but his investigation was commissioned and published by Outside, a general sports magazine.

“It’s not explicit, but it’s completely understood (in surf mags) that if you push too hard, there’s a fear that a company will pull its ads out,” Melekian told me.

Such stonewalling extends to the companies themselves. In the immediate aftermath of Irons’s death, his sponsor, Billabong, published a press release saying Irons had “reportedly been battling with dengue fever”.

This may or may not be true. Irons had indeed withdrawn from a surf contest in Puerto Rico through illness, and was on his way home when he died. But Melekian’s story reported that Irons had also been out partying with friends the night before he died. Elsewhere, it was reported that prescription-drug bottles were found in the room in which Irons died. A toxicology report is due next month.

Repeated attempts to discuss the issue with Billabong elicited this quote from a spokesman: “Andy was a true champion and, out of respect for his memory and the whole Irons family, we have no intention of participating in any speculation about him.”

Brodie Carr, the CEO of the Association of Surfing Professionals, which administers the sport, was at lunch in France when I called on Friday, and, despite two subsequent calls, didn’t call back.

Irons’s former manager, Blair Marlin, isn’t talking either. “I’m not in a place to comment on (Melekian’s story),” Marlin told me. “He wrote what he wanted to write. I’ve heard both sides of the story, of people who are upset by it and people who thought it was a good piece.”

Marlin is an active manager. I compiled a profile of Irons for a surfing magazine in 2008, when Irons was behaving especially erratic, and Marlin refused access to the star. He also insisted on vetting interviews with people close to Irons before they were published. Asked yesterday if the media had been overly constrained to publish the complexities of Irons’s life, Marlin said: “I don’t even care to discuss this right now. The Outside magazine piece came out before the toxicology report. Until it does, I can’t talk about it.”

Plenty of surf fans can, though. Melekian was “shocked” by the amount of positive feedback about the story from surfers and people in the industry.

“It was really well received,” he said. “People are feeling relieved that it finally came out.”

The narcotic tendencies of surfers is nothing new. The sport attracts athletes who are inclined to pursue extreme experiences, and those at the top are not always exceptions to this.

But the companies that traditionally run the sport are now mostly publicly listed, and there is more at stake than just the reputation of a few people in a fringe subculture.

Also, surfing is attracting investment from companies outside the traditional industry (Red Bull, Nike and Target have all become major sponsors), which may finally break the cozy relationship between the magazines and the industry.

“The sport is being infused with more money,” Melekian says. “That has to change everything. The athletes are being treated like real athletes, and that changes it from a small group . . . who are doing some oddball thing down the beach.”

As an anonymous contributor poignantly noted in an online forum attached to Melekian’s story: “I’ve partied with Andy before. We definitely weren’t close, but I’d been around him. Maybe I couldn’t have done anything for him on my own, but the surfing world as a whole and its party scene let one its brightest stars go. In a way, we’re all a little responsible.”

This piece was originally published in The Australian on November 29, 2010. You can reach the author of the article here: pawlef@theaustralian.com.au

surf news, surfing industry, surf industry, surfing news and stories, surf info, surf information, surf travel

This email (below) is being sent around to various peeps. I don’t know anything about this situation or the validity of this email. Nonetheless I found this email to be a bit disturbing. I’m sure there are two sides to this story, but the misguided value that individuals or corporations can OWN the ocean or surf break — especially in North America– is misguided, selfish, dishonest, exploitative i.e not good for the big picture.

What do you make of this email? Can anyone vouch for this information? Is it true?

—- begin email —

North of Mazatlan is the small beach side pueblo of Celestino Gasca. Once known for aqua culture with large warehouses and factories, those are slowly being replaced by small independent beach resorts where you can enjoy beautiful sunset walks on sandy public beaches and world class surfing at two point breaks. Having a number of resorts near perfect surf you might get the idea that as a surfer ,which I happen to be, this would be a dream come true.

For anyone surfing there prior to the introduction of the Cardon Adventure Resort, this was true. Mexican surfers had been going there for years along with a few hardy travelers that just happened to stumble upon it. Everyone getting along, totally stoked …..living the dream.
Initially when the Cardon Adventure Resort opened things were pretty much as they had been before, but it didn’t take long before the owners of Cardon decided they owned the surf. Their mandate became “Only our guests are allowed to surf here “. Access for local Mexican surfers was seriously restricted and anyone else showing up to enjoy the surf was bullied out of the water. Within just a few short years this dramatic change has resulted in an escalation of terrorism by the owners of Cardon Adventure Resort and their employees. Some of the employees just happen to be surfers from California.Two years ago after an altercation in the surf with an employee of the Cardon resort, a well known visiting surfer was escorted from his resort at gunpoint by thugs.

My wife and I have been going to Celestino Gasca for years, always staying at the original resort right in front of the main point. On a recent trip we had planned on staying for ten days. The first day went great; just a few Mexican surfer friends sharing the waves, just like the good old days. The second day my friends and I were enjoying a repeat of the day before until Jeff Phillips, the American thug employed by Cardon, paddled out. When I was sitting by myself he began his normal tirade, screaming “I’m going to F___K you up! I’m gonna take you out”. As usual I just tried to ignore him. Day three my wife and I decided to wait until the Cardon crew had finished their session before paddling out. Watching everyone walking by our palapa including Jeff, I thought this may be a good way to handle things. Just taking turns, sounded like a good plan to me. We paddled out into an empty lineup. After about half an hour Jeff comes paddling back out on a huge long board and proceeds to put his newest battle plan into action. This time he never says one word to us. At first I thought it was kind of a relief, but that didn’t last long. I have been surfing all my life and what happen next was beyond anything I have ever experienced before. It was like some sort of absurd pro surf contest where the rules have been changed without telling of all the contestants. Now the Cardon team scored points by sitting on the shoulder, blocking us from ever taking off on a wave, dropping in front of us if we even tried to take off, finally we gave up and paddled in. It was like constantly being cut off on the freeway by a mad man.

After this fiasco we were in our beach front palapa, where we had previously spent many happy hours, relaxing and watching the surf, with friends we had met in the water, including guests of Cardon. Soon Omar, one of the owners of Cardon Adventure resort walked by to tell us “NEVER COME BACK”. Beating his chest he said “THIS IS MY BREAK” That no other resort on the beach is allowed to rent to surfers. If we didn’t leave “We would see his power”. Fearing for our safety we left the next day, leaving behind friends and a place we had loved for years.

Cardon Adventure Resort has created is a very dangerous situation for everyone. If this continues it will only be a question of time before some unsuspecting surfer following their dream is seriously injured or killed. Wither it be a guest of one of the other resorts, someone at Cardon, or the general public, no one is immune to the violent situation they have created.

It is my hope those reading this will rethink their support of the Cardon Adventure Resort. Be it a business association or a vacation to the resort.
Hopefully with the help of the global community we can convince Cardon to end this sad and violent path they have decided to go down. Then we can all go back to living the dream.

Embassy officials in Mazatlan told us our report was not first they had received. Anyone with any knowledge of similar behavior by Cardon Adventure resort is urged to contact the following authorities.

PROFECO
Federal Attorneys Office
011 52 55 52 11 17 23
www.profeco.gob.mx/english.htm

—- end email –

surf news, surfing news, swamis, surfing industry, seth pettersen, sacred craft expo, taj burrow, bells beach, rip curl

Seth will be playing at Sacred Craft in Ventura April 10th, Ventura County Fairgrounds

SURF NEWS: This week — Jodie Nelson attacks Breast Cancer, Tsunami warning sends Hawaiians scrambling to stock up on Shave Ice; and Todos Santos big waves lures the big hunters to big event; Swamis landslides endears city council to allow for special permits underneath landslides; Eco warrior James Pribram joins Down The Line in-studio!

Seth Pettersen “Baby Buddah” – This is the song we play a bit during the show.

Slater maintains secondary tour plan is no pipe dream

But nine-time world champion has no plans to take on the ASP, writes Josh Rakic in surf news.

“I don’t think that the ESPN Tour is completely a dead idea. I think there’s some kind of possibility that it could still happen in the future.”

Kelly Slater surf news

And with those words from nine-time world champion Kelly Slater, it seems clear the rumours of the ”rebel” tour’s death are greatly exaggerated. But the iconic figure insists it’s no rebel tour and that if he had his way, the stalled ESPN-sanctioned tour would run as a best-of-the-best format to co-exist with the current ASP tour.

”It doesn’t have to be a rival or alternative tour to the ASP, it might be a supplementary thing,” Slater revealed to The Sun-Herald. ”The last thing I want to see is the companies or the ASP be screwed over. But I also don’t want to see the surfers screwed over. A supplementary series could work out great. It doesn’t need to decide the world champion. I think people were confused about whether that needed to be like boxing with different belts. No.”

Slater came under intense scrutiny last year after he and ESPN mooted the idea of a secondary tour, one which would feature just 16 athletes and unprecedented prizemoney, plus mainstream media coverage of a sport with a business model that has gone largely unchanged for two decades.

Unlike other international sports such as tennis and golf, surfing’s major companies not only sponsor the bulk of the tour’s athletes but are also the principle sponsors of the events – granting them almost total control of the sport.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE FROM SMH HERE

surf news, surfing industry, southern california surfing culture,

The good Professor professes the truth.. and it hurts… from laughing so hard.

Surfing news: Mavericks Contest to run on Sat???

Looks like Mavericks is a yellow light (although not official) by the looks of the storm/swell models, things are lining up nicely. We’ll see…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, err… Valentines Day. The 13th & 14th should be pretty good in California.

Check this vid below: Tom Curren at Santa Barbara’s Spot that Forcefully Ejects Sands

Here is a cool little something I found while scouring for news, remember Nicky Wood? Ubber grom Aussie surf star from the late 80s?

From: BrisbaneTimes.com.

Nicky Wood One Last Chance

“In 1987, Nick Wood became the youngest winner of a world championship surfing event when he took out the Rip Curl Pro Bell’s Beach Easter event.

Now 23 years later, Wood is returning to the surf after securing a fairytale wildcard to the Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro, to be held from February 17-21 on the Gold Coast.

Wood was regarded as one of the most talented Australian surfers of the 70s and 80s and even at 40, has the ability to put a scare through some of the big-names signed up to compete in the event, the first stand-alone pro event to be held at Burleigh for a decade.

Wood, now a Gold Coast local, has a family history intertwined with the sport in Australia. His Godfather is surf legend and former world champion Mark Richards, who tore up the Burleigh barrels during the iconic Stubbies contests in the 70s and 80s.

He won the chance to compete at Burleigh through a competition run by Breaka milk, which has given Wood the chance to relive his surfing dream more than two decades after taking out the title at Bell’s Beach.

The Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro includes some of the biggest stars of surfing, with world champion Mick Fanning headlining the event and surf great Mark Occhilupo coming out of retirement to have a crack at the $95,000 prize pool.

Triple world champ Andy Irons will also be in action, alongside the likes of Taj Burrow, Bede Durbridge, Owen Wright, Dean Morrison, Jay Thompson, Nathan Hedge and Darren O’Rafferty.”

Super Bowl Sunday:

Joe from PlusONE surfboards will be on hand to discuss…stuff.. and bring me my new board!

We’ll have Adam Elder, who wrote the San Diego Magazine article on Nate Cintas and localism, on the phone to discuss.

But…first things first…classic HD footage of banker caught surfing the web for nudie shots on LIVE Aussie TV. Check out the “I’m busted” look on his face at the end.

Rising Hollywood star Anna Sophia Robb wore a green sleeve on her arm, which will later be digitally removed for the movie.

Dennis Quad and Carrie Underwood become surfers for the big screen as filming for “Soul Surfer” the Bethany Hamilton story begins in Hawaii this week. Anyone who listens to DTL knows we are big fans of Bethany. She is gnar gnar. I’ve seen her paddle out into the most hideous Sunset Beach 12′-15′ with 15 knot onshore winds, closing out the channel crap / hell surf…with one arm! She is friggin’ nause.

AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany.
Read more

Mickey Munoz is on my all-time- coolest -top 10- best ever- classiest- humble- surf cats- ever list so I want to tell everyone about the Mickey Munoz Paddle Surf Fiesta – Mongoose Cup will be held March 13, 2010 at Baby Beach, Dana Point Harbor. This event highlights the need for SUP safety. Great idea and it makes sense that it came from Mickey!

Can you name these three surfer/shapers?

More legendary surf craftsman….Rich Harbour
from a press release at Surfline: “A Life in Surfboard Culture is an exhibition of Rich Harbour’s life work, 50 years of surfboard shaping and surf shop operation that spans the modern era of surfing’s history. Opening February 13 and running until April 9 at the Frank M. Doyle Art Pavilion on the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa, the exhibition will be one of the most ambitious presentations of surf culture ever mounted, featuring more than 40 significant surfboards and a myriad of vintage images and objects including rare photographs, vintage clothing and many of Harbour’s original shaping tools.

An opening reception Saturday February 13 from 5 to 9pm is open to the pubic offering food, refreshments and entertainment. Not only a celebration of surf shop culture, it will be a tribute to Rich Harbour – one of California’s seminal surf industry figures – and his contribution to the lifestyle.

“I consider Rich Harbour a master sculptor and engineer,” says Andrea Harris-McGee, Director of the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion. “The exhibition will present a behind-the-scenes look into the shaping process,” says Harris-McGee. “Orange Coast College has an enrollment of more than 24,000 students most of whom live near the coast and many of whom are involved in surfing, or some other form of ocean activity. So this is an art, history and culture that have a specific, local meaning to the students and to the residents of Orange County.”"

You can follow Sacred Craft Expo on twitter and Sacred Craft Expo is paying Tribute to Renny Yater, the Lone Wolf, at the Sacred Craft Expo in Ventura on April 10 & 11th. US Blanks has stepped up to sponsor the event for the next 3 years. The shapers chosen to replicate a classic Yater Spoon are Todd Proctor, Nick Pallandrini, Michel Junod, Matt Moore, Wayne Rich and Dennis Ryder. Tons of cool stuff happening at the Sacred Craft Expo including a Magical Morning surfboard demo presented by Transworld BUSINESS & TW SURF folks, so come out and try the surfboards at C Street on Sat April 10th. Also Robb Havassy is curating the gallery/chill lounge with Surf Story Project pieces. Plus Cyrus Sutton and Stephan JeremiasKorduroyTV are presenting short groovy surf movie clips in the chill lounge as well.

So much to talk about so little time.